The House of Commons could be set for an influx of former regional press journalists at the general election due next spring.

Former Express and Echo and BBC reporter Ben Bradshaw, the culture, media and sports secretary, is one of the best-known of a number of former local press hacks currently operating at Westminster.

But not to be outdone, the opposition Tories have signed up a trio of former regional journalists themselves as they seek to take the battle to Labour.

And with the contest now no more than nine months away, the newly-chosen candidates are busy schmoozing their constituencies as they bid to topple sitting MPs.

Richard Drax is the prospective parliamentary candidate South Dorset, having worked for BBC Radio Solent as its Bournemouth Reporter.

His journalism career started out as a trainee with the then Yorkshire Evening Press as a trainee before he went to studied his journalism qualifications with on the Westminster Press course.

He later worked for the Express, Daily Telegraph and Tyne Tees TV before moving south to Dorset.

Caroline Righton is the party’s parliamentary candidate for the new constituency of St Austell and Newquay.

She initially trained as a journalist on local papers in the county and then joined the BBC as a news and current affairs presenter on local radio and regional TV.

Caroline has also worked for many of the national newspaper titles and presented programmes on BBC, ITV, Channel Four and Sky.

Chris Skidmore, parliamentary candidate for Kingswood in Bristol, is a former press and magazine journalist and also a published author.

After studying history at Oxford, he worked for the Western Daily Press and People magazine as well as researching and writing history books.